I’ve had mine for 48 years…no battery change…yet
53 years for my K&E, and 55 years for my Pickett.
Ron
If you used a slide rule in engineering school and/or practice, what did it teach you that calculators and computers do not reinforce?
My non-engineer boss has been quoted an angle as 46.12816124578385°. I am fairly certain he never used a slide rule.
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He has better eyesight than I have…
Dik
We need digital slide rules for backup!
I used it in high school, college and later at work too. Our first calculator was a Sharp, company bought one for entire design department…But it was long time ago and on the other side of the “pond”( and the iron curtain).
I got my first one, a Sun Hemmi 6" at around 12 years age. I loved it. And even more so when I understood that the C and D scales gave twice the resolution the A and B scales did.
The more I used it, the more I understood about logarithms and trigonometric functions. The P (Pythogarean) scale was a real eye-opener. So I was well prepared when we got that far in the math classes.
It was only when the HP 35 appeared that I reluctantly let go the 12" Faber Castell 154. But I still have it.
I happened to meet a guy at the La Posada hotel in Winslow, Arizona and we had a couple of beers together. I had no idea who he was and we found out that we had a few common interests. I asked who he was. Tom Osborne, he said. The guy that started it all with his “Green Machine” - built from discrete components and using the Cordic algorithm. Do i need to say that it became a very late evening? My wife and Tom’s Paula found something else to do. I think. A great evening and a great memory.
Of course, I got myself a HP 97, with magnetic memory card and built-in printer after that.
Taught me the difference between accuracy and precision, the need (or not) for both and the importance of understanding the solution process. The reality of significant figures. The value of being efficient in my work. Using your time wisely, being sure you are on the right track, using tools for their intended job. Also, if someone presented an answer with more numbers after the decimal point than before, they probably had no clue.
I got my first slide rule when I was three. He said ”Don’t fall off son!”
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An early advice was: “Don’t use it to stir paint”
It was not given by an MBA - they didn’t exist then. Good old days it was.
I just realised that if the scales were linear and not logarithmetic, you could use it for adding and subtracting. An epiphany… first of the day…
Dik
Right, but the way the scales are arranged, subtraction is easier.
It is like life. Subtraction is the natural procedure. Taxes are but one example.
@RevDesigner…it taught me to think. Calculators and computers (though I use them daily) lull you into not thinking.
You could have ‘split’ scales, too… it would make it easier.
Dik
I used one that was designed for Air Traffic Controllers. It was circular and had an outer diameter for distance and one for radius. Dad taught me how to determine time to arrival while driving the highway. It would keep me occupied.
I was in grade school when my dad taught me air speed, ground speed and wind vectors… and could numerically calculate square root for Pythagoras calcs. I came across his notebooks from the airforce and started asking him questions… It may have been the beginning of my penchant for mathematics.
Dik
@skeletron
The E6B! I had one in basic flight school.
Like this: http://www.csgnetwork.com/e6bcalc.html